


Grasping at straws

by Ifrit



Category: Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Genre: Alcohol, Anal Sex, Blood, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Domestic Fluff, Drabble Collection, Established Relationship, Gunshot Wounds, M/M, Oral Sex, Semi-Public Sex, Shower Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:06:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27645913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ifrit/pseuds/Ifrit
Summary: A series of related drabbles written for my baby (<3) for "Mactober". Contains domestic fluff, idiots figuring out what their relationship really is, and one Interpol agent confronting the another's use of pheromones.
Relationships: Adam Jensen/Duncan MacReady
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	Grasping at straws

**10/1 - Infolink**

_ Click. _

Mac’s profile suddenly appeared on his HUD. Great, as if having to sneak through the city in the rain wasn’t enough of a pain in the ass. 

“You know, having my infolink doesn’t mean you can just call me whenever you want.”

“Had enough of random strangers getting patched through? It’s your own bleeding heart’s fault, Jensen.”

He sounded fond, a significant departure from his usual brusque disapproval. 

“Mac, are you drunk?”

“I might’ve had a few. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“I’m trying not to get shot right now, and you’re calling me for no reason. I’d say that seems a lot like something that should be my business.”

“Who said I didn’t have a reason?” Jensen hears a soft laugh accompanied by the unmistakable clinking of ice against glass. “Get your shiny metal ass over here. I need to show you something.”

_ Something? _

“I hope that’s not a euphemism. Mac, lay off the booze, would you?”

“Request denied. Mac out.”

**10/2 - Morning after**

Jensen was the first to wake up, head throbbing. He should never have let Mac talk him into drinking, too.

He poked the snoring bastard's side, waiting for Mac to wake up when the snoring abruptly stopped - but no. Mac went right on snoring.

Exasperated, Jensen let a bit of discharge from a cartridge of tesla ammo shock Mac's bare skin.

"Augh!" Mac cried out, body spasming in surprise. "The hell - Jensen, what the fuck!"

"You wouldn't wake up."

"Fucking shake me then, asshole." Despite his griping, Mac acquiesced when Jensen leaned down for a kiss. "I don't know why I put up with you."

The corner of Jensen's mouth quirked up fondly as he smoothed out the furrows still creasing Macready's forehead. "Me neither. I've been told I can be a real asshole."

"If that isn't the truth."

**10/3 - Coffee**

Despite appearances at work, Mac was harder to raise than the dead - something only Jensen had the privilege of knowing. He left the snoring agent in bed to go into the kitchen and start a pot of coffee.

If a shock and a kiss couldn’t wake Mac up, Jensen supposed he could try weaponizing the smell of sizzling eggs and bacon - no toast, because Mac practically had the diet of a carnivore.

Before they’d started this…  _ thing _ , whatever it was, Jensen was still eating cereal for every meal and washing it down with whiskey. He hadn’t even known how to crack an egg until Mac had taught him how, a memory Jensen recalls fondly - his exasperation, their bodies side-by-side in the kitchen, a far departure from their work environment. Mac’s voice in his ear was no substitute for the warmth of his body next to him.

Jensen is startled out of his reminiscence by the ringing alarm of the coffee pot. Black liquid poured into an empty cup, his own dedicated mug. For Mac, half a cup of milk and three tablespoons of sugar swirled in the mug he’d bought and left at Adam’s apartment, turning the coffee beige.

**10/4 - Water/shower**

When Mac pulls himself out of his groggy, half-asleep state enough to climb out of bed, he feels the chill of waking up alone. He thought he wouldn’t have to experience that while he and Jensen were fraternizing, but he’d take what he could get - it was strange for such a depressed bastard to be a morning person. Well, a morning person compared to Mac.

The scent of sex still lingered on his skin and Jensen’s bedsheets. As much as he loved it, which - fuck, did he love it - it didn’t mingle well with the smells of breakfast wafting in from the open-concept kitchen.

Immediately upon getting his ass out of the bedroom, he waltzed up behind the cyborg, feet slapping on the hardwood. He got close enough for his chest to be touching the flesh of Jensen’s back, but not any closer than that - nothing close to something as sappy as a hug, but an action intimate enough for it to be weird if they were  _ just  _ coworkers.

“Fancy a shower?”

Not one to be startled (ever), Jensen doesn’t react to Mac’s voice right in his ear with anything but a quick kiss to his cheek. “Are you offering to warm up the water for me, or is this an invitation?”

“Fuck right off, you know it’s an invitation.”

Jensen let out that dry chuckle of his that sent a shiver up Mac’s spine, plating their breakfasts with the knowledge the food was inevitably going to go cold. “Then I humbly accept.”

**10/5 - Quick sex**

Despite the hangover pounding through his skull, Mac has it in him to push Jensen into the freezing stream of water and against the tiles. He's too impatient to wait for the water to warm up, too impatient even to wait for Jensen to fully take off his pants.

Luckily, he'd gone to sleep naked and saw no reason to put on clothes after getting out of bed. "On your knees, Jensen," he growled - if only to hide the embarrassment in his voice. He was getting too old to kneel on hard tile, and since Jensen didn't have real knees… well, that took care of that.

"I at least deserve a treat if you're gonna treat me like a dog." Jensen obliges, though, looking up at Mac with those shifting golden eyes.

"What, my cock isn't enough for you?"

"I never said that." Without warning, Jensen swallowed Mac down - no need for air. The sounds of his rebreather activating filled the small space, and Mac could feel his cock pulsating in response. A pavlovian reaction to the sound he only heard when Jensen gave him head.

**10/6 - Scar**

The feeling of Mac hardening in his mouth made Adam smile, deviously sliding the entire length down his throat. He didn’t need to breathe, what with all of his augments - so he stayed there, all of Mac’s cock stuffed down his throat without a care in the world.

He relished in the way Mac was practically going crazy, in no small part because he kept  _ swallowing _ around the head of Mac’s cock. Not yet content, his hands began to roam for other sensitive spots he could use to torture his CO.

Avoiding his balls - he didn’t want to  _ overstimulate  _ the poor guy, after all - Jensen blindly ran his hands over the planes of Mac’s skin. Almost immediately he found the telltale ridges of scar tissue on Mac’s torso, and surprisingly, Mac practically jumped when Jensen’s nails ran over what could only be a scar from an old bullet wound.

Jensen wanted to tease Mac, goad him about being so  _ sensitive _ \- but his mouth was so obviously full that all he could do was scratch at the scars, swallowing every time Mac’s length throbbed in response.

It only took three more minutes for Mac to cum - Jensen had silently started a timer on his HUD as soon as they’d tumbled into the shower - and Adam was swallowing down everything Mac had to give him. 

“Seven minutes, old-timer. I really outdid myself, didn’t I?”

Mac, too breathless to verbally respond, simply raised a middle finger to signal he’d heard Jensen’s teasing.

**10/7 - Eyes**

Done messing around, Jensen and Mac eventually got cleaned up, despite Jensen's roaming hands (which were swatted away from Mac's skin). Once the water was shut off, the two of them stepped out of the glass shower.

They were still dripping with water, Mac's usual horrible haircut looking much more appealing with his hair plastered erratically on his forehead. Before he could get a jab in about it, Adam felt a warm towel drop onto his head - Mac's doing, if that rough scrubbing gave anything away.

"You don't have to do this every time, Mac. I'm 34, not 13."

"Yeah, well-" Mac pauses to make an opening in the towel, peering at Jensen's face. "Act like it, then."

Adam let out a dry chuckle and tilted his head into Mac's touch. "I'm thinking this is your roundabout way of asking me to call you 'daddy'."

" _ Hell  _ no." It sounded as if Mac was about to say something more, but he stopped in his tracks. Not that Jensen knew anything about why.

"You okay there?"

"Yeah," Mac stuttered, pushing Jensen's hair out of his face. He looked a bit dazed, and he kept staring at - ah.

"Sorry, I'll put my shades back on. Don't wanna make you uncomfortable." He'd dealt with this with Megan before, after the surgery. It was a little sad to have to deal with, but nothing new. Nothing to feel bitter about.

"No!" Jensen almost jumps out of his skin at Mac's shout, too surprised to bring his shades over his eyes. "No, it's - I like it."

Was that - was Mac  _ blushing?  _ He was scowling and turned away, but a bit of fiddling with his HUD confirmed that yeah, Mac was full-on blushing like a high school girl.

"Look all you like, then." Jensen was too happy about not having to hide yet another part of himself to tease Mac about something so outlandish as  _ blushing,  _ God.

**10/8 - Breaks**

They passed the rest of the time in silence, Mac dutifully working away at drying Jensen’s hair while Jensen just closed his eyes and enjoyed it.

Having no time to mess around any further, they quickly got changed and ready for work. “Right, then.” Mac looked slightly uncomfortable, blush still light on his cheeks. “See you underground.”

“I’ll stop by your office after I run recon on another Dvali hideout. Koller’s asking me to steal a motherboard this time.”

Mac was scowling, clearly not embarrassed about the possessive emotion showing on his face. “Damn vampire brat, always asking you for favors.”

“Yeah, well. You can have a say once you learn how to do maintenance on my augs.”

“For once I regret being a natural.” With no further protest, Mac leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to Jensen’s lips, not sticking around long enough to feel the regret from the gentle gesture.

Once Mac is out the door, Jensen slides his coat on and unsheathes his glasses. The citizens of prague weren’t nearly as understanding as Mac - something Jensen never thought he’d ever be saying three months ago when he arrived in Prague.

Sneaking into Dvali territory is easy enough, and Adam is back at TF29 in no more than a few hours after Mac had left his apartment - but not before picking up lunch for the both of them on the way. And, as promised, he makes a beeline straight for Mac’s office in the counterterrorism sector.

He knocks despite the loud noise of the door sliding out of his way making his presence known. “You look like you could use a break.”

“I always look like this, don’t I?” Mac smiles wryly, eyes widening ever-so-slightly when he sees the plastic bag in Adam’s hand. “Did you-”

“Pick up lunch like a good boy? Maybe. I’m only giving it to you if you actually, you know, take lunch break instead of eat in front of your console while you check your emails.”

Mac rolls his eyes. “Close the door and give it here.”

“Do I get a kiss?”

“Why’d you think I told you to close the door?”

**10/9 - Injury/wound**

Lunch passed by uneventfully aside from Jensen trying to put his legs up on Mac’s thighs - attempts which were swiftly thwarted with an exasperated click of a tongue.

“Alright, stop faffing about. I heard from Miller you have another assignment you need to make.”

“Yeah. Smiley wanted a follow-up on some evidence the state police aren’t handing over.”

“Again?”

Jensen gives him a pointed look.

“Alright, fair point. Just get on with it already.” Mac cleaned up his desk of the empty takeout containers they’d left behind. “I’ll wait for you at your flat, yeah? Maybe make dinner.”

Jensen’s heart lurches - he hadn’t felt this kind of fondness for another person since his last relationship, the one that left emotional scars he thinks he’d never get rid of - and so he tamps down the emotion, masking it with a short cough. “Anything to get you away from your desk. You work too hard, Mac.”

“Don’t I know it.”

Jensen gave Mac a quick kiss before leaving, trying to shake those lingering feelings of… well, Jensen didn’t really  _ know _ what that feeling was, just that it left him with an incredibly empty sensation. For all his augs, Adam didn’t think his mind could ever be fixed to reach normal, much less optimal, performance.

There was a reason why he and Mac were doing this dance, never putting their feelings into words despite the disgustingly sweet way they acted around each other. Jensen had his issues. Mac had read his file, which meant he  _ also  _ knew about Jensen’s issues. Saying “I love you” just wasn’t in Adam’s vocabulary anymore, ripped out of his language center by Megan Reed - figuratively and (nearly) literally. 

He shook himself once the train reached his stop, physically feeling his vision - and the rest of his conscience - focus. Nothing like some espionage to distract himself from his problems.

**10/10 - Undercover missions**

However, Adam was just jumping out of the frying pan of one problem and into the fire of another. He hadn’t told Mac this, but Miller and Smiley had both agreed the best way to get info on the evidence forensics needed was to pretend to be an aug under arrest. Play the poor aug, so to say.

Any other time, he’d be fine just getting in, stealing the hardware, and sneaking out - but this time, there would be fallout for innocent citizens if the evidence just… poof! Disappeared. As if the cops in Prague needed an excuse to brutalize augs.

So he was told to get taken into a holding cell, escape (somehow), find the evidence he needed, but not take it. Instead, he was supposed to hide nearby and turn on his comms, letting Smiley and Miller listen in on an infolink call.

It had been a long while since he’d been in handcuffs. Not long enough, though. The metal felt frigid on his wrists - at least it should have, judging by the temperature readout he was seeing on his HUD. As bad as jail was, though, Adam was infinitely grateful that he wasn’t being forced into an orange jumpsuit.

**10/11 - Distractions**

The cops corralling him into his cell were naturally more cautious around Adam, him being an aug and all. He was put into a cell separate from all other detainees - just what he wanted. Once all but one guard was left, Jensen broke his cuffs and discharged arcs of electricity from his wrist, disabling the lone guard and allowing him to easily search his cell for an escape route.

Breaking out was far too easy, especially since he had Koller install his remote hacking aug. Despite almost overheating in the chair, the operation was worth it - Jensen was out and about ten minutes from him being processed and put in his cell. ...He should really talk to Miller about the competency of the state police, but they’d never listen to Interpol. Never had in the first place.

Navigating the police station was a complete joke. All he had to do was turn on his cloaking mechanism and crawl briskly through the hallways before he was in the evidence lockup. It really said something about the state of the justice system in Prague when a damn  _ bank  _ had better security that was leagues apart from a  _ police station’s _ . He’d like to say it wasn’t like this in America, but… he couldn’t lie, not in his own head.

He found a convenient vent leading into the locked room and perched right above his target, dialing Miller and Smiley to start their scheduled conference call. Smiley’s voice immediately broke through, not giving Jensen a second to speak.

“Jensen! Don’t move a muscle. You’re in the  _ perfect  _ place for me to capture the frequency of the dongle.”

“...Are you using me as some kind of antenna?”

“Maybe--”

“Pipe down, Smiley. Jensen, are you seeing anything?”

“Not yet.”

“Just have to bounce off the frequency of this call, search for nearby frequencies…”

“Smiley, is there  _ any  _ way you can walk yourself through this operation  _ silently _ ?”

The agent continued to ramble on and on and  _ on _ , much to Adam’s chagrin. Even Miller’s voice couldn’t cut through the constant stream of Smiley thinking aloud to himself - until he heard a  _ click _ on Smiley’s end, followed by a familiar, albeit unexpected, voice.

“Jesus, that kid needs to learn how to shut the fuck up.”

“Mac?” Jensen exclaimed a little too loudly, silently cursing himself as he lowered his volume. “What the hell are you doing on this call?”

“Figured you could use some help.” Adam could hear Mac draw in a breath before speaking on an exhale, his trademark habit when he was far too done with someone’s shit. Jensen heard it a lot, unsurprisingly. “I was in Miller’s office when you called, so I just let myself in and used my... administrative privileges to mute his channel.”

**10/12 - Bad habits**

The rest of the mission went relatively well, especially with Smiley's mic being muted about 90% of the time with Mac's help.

"Relatively well" included Adam getting a bullet to the hip, right at the junction between his original flesh and the tungsten that made up his legs - but all in all, Jensen would consider the mission a success. Despite being shot in the literal worst place possible.

He stopped by Koller's to see if the guy couldn't do anything about it. After a quick and painful extraction, Jensen was back in fighting shape.

No matter how hard he tried, though, he couldn't completely hide his limp when he walked through the front door of his apartment. He was too tired to have remembered, anyways - which is why Mac was able to ambush him around the corner as he was making his way to his room.

"Jesus, Mac, I could have gotten a heart attack."

"You look like absolute shit."

"Yeah, I know. Mission success, though."

"Success - Adam, you're  _ limping _ ." Despite Jensen's soft protests, Mac took Jensen's arm around his shoulders and brought him to the living room couch. He had no idea why Mac was making such a big deal out of this, it was certainly nothing new.

"I thought I had talked you out of using yourself as a bullet sponge, and that you had more regard for your own life than this."

**10/13 - Body worship**

“Yeah, well. Sometimes I just forget to activate my TITAN shield.”

“You could  _ take cover _ , Jensen.”

Mac is smiling, though the furrow in his brow gives away his concern. Adam considers releasing some pheromones to calm Mac down, but he knows how mad he’d be if Adam tried. Besides, he had too much respect for Mac to try it - he’d really never tried manipulating Mac with his pheromones, even when they were butting heads when he arrived at TF29.

His head is resting against the hard edge of the headboard of his bed as he stares up at the ceiling, letting Mac look him over - when he feels a rough, warm hand on his chest.

“I don’t recall ever getting shot there, Agent Macready.”

Mac just lets out a wry chuckle, gently handling Adam to lay him down flat. “Just consider this me giving you a look-over to make sure you weren’t stupid enough to get hit anywhere else.” It was clear Mac was using this as an excuse to get his hands on Jensen’s skin, but the touch was nice enough that Adam could feel his pain receding from the endorphins the contact elicited.

After tracing a finger between Jensen’s pecs, he splays his hands out wide and runs them down the rest of the aug’s torso. Jensen has to give it to him - Mac is definitely being incredibly thorough, especially so when his hands gently reach the bullet still lodged in Adam’s hip. 

Even with the adrenaline worn off, Adam doesn’t feel the pain too badly - though again, Mac’s touch is certainly helping him deal. 

**10/14 - Blood**

Mac presses a soft kiss to Jensen’s stomach before rising off the bed. Jensen makes a noise of protest, but Mac cuts him off before he fully voices his question of where Mac is going. “I’m just getting the first aid kit. You lay there and be pliant.”

Smiling, Jensen lets his head fall back onto his pillow. His smile doesn’t last long, however - now that Mac isn’t healing him through touch anymore, the pain comes back - tenfold, it seems. 

He can’t help the small grunts of pain that escape him, no matter how much he wants to suppress them so as not to worry Mac. But Mac is too attentive to miss the pain on his face, quick to get back to Adam with a comforting hand on the side of his face. 

“Here.” Mac hands Adam his shirt, and - when did he take it off? Adam must be  _ really  _ out of it to miss the sight of Mac half-naked. “Bite down.”

Bite down? “You’re not giving me lidocaine?”

“As if that would help with a wound this massive. You don’t have any pain reliever built in?”

He did, the augmentation almost forgotten in his daze. “Right, well, just let me know when it takes effect and I’ll dig the bullet out.” Mac’s already getting his tools ready - scalpel (a knife he got from the kitchen that he sterilized with dishsoap), alcohol (absinthe, not rubbing), and bandages laid out beside him.

Dutifully, Jensen bit down on the cloth given to him and let the adrenaline pour into his bloodstream, pupils dilating in response. He nodded at Mac, who took a deep breath before carefully inserting the very tip of his knife into the wound.

While Mac no doubt had makeshift field medic experience, he was in no way a surgeon. Blood began steadily pouring out of the wound, making Mac hesitate - but he kept at it, eventually digging the bullet out and quickly pouring alcohol over the wound.

Adam was in a daze, heart racing with the pain of the surgery distantly felt. He was lucid enough to return Mac’s kiss once he was done bandaging the wound - his Sentinel aug would take care of the rest.

**10/15 - Vulnerability**

So much blood stained the sheets that Mac felt weird about laying down on it after everything was said and done - so he tried to pick Adam up in his arms. Bad idea. Jensen weighed almost 300 pounds when he wasn’t moving, and he was in no shape to help Mac get him out of bed.

“Why the hell did Sarif make you so damn heavy when he turned you into a robot?”

“Ask the bastard yourself,” Jensen mumbled, moving his arms as if he were trying to roll over but couldn’t. 

Sighing heavily, Mac drops down onto the mattress next to Adam. They’d order a new mattress in the morning. “Hey, Adam?”

“Hey yourself, Agent.”

“I’m serious, I think - maybe you should get Koller to deactivate that TITAN aug. Let you get used to having a sense of self-preservation.”

“Is the big bad CO worried for me?” Jensen lets out a pained laugh, placing a hand over Mac’s. “I need it in a pinch, but I’ll stop trying to use it so often. I promise.”

“Your promises mean nothing, but I at least appreciate the sentiment. I just-”

Adam slowly and laboriously turns his head to look at Mac. “You just what?”

“I just don’t want to lose more people.”

“It’d take more than a bullet to take me out, Mac. You know that.”

Mac huffs, pulling his hand away from Jensen’s. “I wish it didn’t have to come to this, but you’ve forced it out of me. I don’t want to lose someone I  _ love _ , Adam.”

Adam was so shocked he spent the next two minutes in complete silence.

**10/16 - Past**

“Well? You got anything to say?”

“Uh-” 

Eloquently, Adam flounders for a response. He was too high on adrenaline and pain for this shit. “I…”

“Save it. I know I dropped this on you rather suddenly.”

“Yeah, you did. I just don’t know how to feel about it.”

“What’s this we’ve been doing for the past few months, Adam?” Mac runs a weary hand over his face. “I know you’ve had bad experiences with long-term relationships in the past, but I don’t know what to think anymore.”

Adam is suddenly on the defensive, that visceral reaction to mention of Megan boiling in his stomach again. “What  _ do  _ you know about my past relationships?”

“Enough to know you’d have a damn hard time trusting me, and that I’m lucky I’m not someone like Auzenne or Smiley.”

Adam clicks his tongue, done with this particular conversation. “Yeah, well. I don’t know anything about  _ your  _ past, since I don’t have access to your files.” It was a white lie - Janus had provided him with files on all his coworkers, but they never really went into detail about Mac’s personal life.

“What do you want to know?”

“Did you ever actually love any of your three ex-wives?”

“As much as anyone who marries out of obligation and internalized homophobia can love a woman.”

**10/17 - Warmth**

“Wow, didn’t know you had words like those in your vocabulary, Mac.” 

“Enough jokes, Jensen.”

Adam almost cracks wise again until he remembers the conversation they were having. “Right. Uh, well… why do you think you love me?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t particularly care. It’s enough to follow my instincts, isn’t it?” Mac smiles, the corner of his lips quirking up while his eyes remained mirthless. “All I know is that you’re more than just a warm body, and I’d be positively  _ devastated  _ if you were gone.”

“Who’s the sarcastic asshole now?” Adam rolls his eyes, though he very unsubtly scoots closer to Mac despite the stinging pain in his hip. His hand finds Mac’s bare chest. Tungsten against skin, his eyes flicker down to the contrast of black metal against pink flesh. 

“How much can you feel with that hand of yours, Adam?”

While Jensen wanted to make fun of Mac for the obvious subject change, he was grateful for it, too. “Everything. I could tell you exactly how warm your skin is in degrees celsius, if you want.”

“I’m perfectly fine, thanks.” He laughs, despite himself, and presses their foreheads together. “As sexy as I think your hands are, nothing beats your stupid natural face.”

“Gee, thanks.”

**10/18 - A moment of peace**

They fall asleep like that, laying on their sides facing each other. They’re not graceful enough to be pleasantly asleep in each others’ arms - no, they’re draped over one another, legs and arms tangled inelegantly together.

Mac wakes up first, just barely groggy after years of training himself to sleep on a rigid schedule. His entire body is sore despite them having done absolutely nothing the night before. Getting old was a curse, one that afflicted his spine more than any other part of his body.

He ignores the pain in (all of) his joints and takes the time he has alone to get a good look at Adam’s features. From the graying hairs peppering his jaw to the wrinkles forming on his skin - Mac loved all of it, every single prematurely aging feature positively endearing to the older man. Despite the fondness Mac felt, he was worried the aug was aging all too quickly. It was hard to remember that they had almost a decade separating them, at times.

Eventually, the pain got to be too much. He groaned, turning the other way to relieve the pressure in his joints. From behind he hears: “I’ve never seen you act more like an old man than right now, Mac.”

Mac rolled his eyes fondly. “We can’t all have alloy vertebrae.”

Surprisingly, Jensen doesn’t fire back with a jab of his own - instead, Mac feels hands on his shoulders, rubbing and pressing insistently at the many knots under the skin there.

“Ah… what are you playing at, Jensen?”

“Repaying the favor from last night. Thanks, by the way. For getting that bullet out of me.”

Mac is too embarrassed to respond, secretly loving how Adam’s hands are massaging along his shoulder blades. He may or may not let out a salacious moan when Adam hits a particularly tight spot, earning a teasing laugh from his “assailant”. 

**10/19 - Secrets**

The pleasure could only last for so long. When Mac remembered their conversation after the surgery last night, he felt as if something were stuck in his throat. 

Jensen can tell something is wrong without even looking at Mac’s face, without using his social augmentations. “Mac…”

He doesn’t know how to continue. They lay in silence, Jensen’s hands long since having gone still. 

“You can tell me if you just want to keep this unofficial, as they say. My feelings won’t be hurt.” Mac shudders as he speaks, utterly refusing to turn and face Adam. 

“Can I tell you something that wasn’t on my file?”

Now  _ that _ gets Mac’s attention. “Proceed.” He turns around, looking curiously into Jensen’s eyes.

“I actually was in another long-term relationship after Megan.”

“...That’s news to me.”

Adam chuckles awkwardly, clearly reluctant to continue but feeling it necessary to clear the air between them. “It was a sort of rebound relationship. I kind of hated his guts - still do, honestly.”

_ His _ . So, unlike Mac, this wasn’t Adam’s first rendezvous with the same sex. “I think you might know him. He was another coworker at Sarif Industries - Pritchard, if that rings a bell.” 

It did, but only just barely. Mac recalled reading a name like that in Jensen’s file, hard to forget with how closely it resembled “prick”. Which was fitting with how much of a bell-end he seemed, even on paper. “You were - with  _ him? _ ”

**10/20 - Comfort**

“Yeah. You sound surprised, Mac.”

“He just doesn’t seem like the type you’d involve yourself with.”

Jensen gives him a knowing look and hooks their ankles together. “I’d question my own judgement after breaking rule number one. Never fraternize with your CO.”

There’s nothing Mac can say about that. So he changes the subject slightly, returning the affectionate gesture by rubbing their feet together as if they were crickets. “So, what’s the point of telling me all this?”

Jensen does something uncharacteristic and takes one of Mac’s hands into his own. He was so rarely this intensely affectionate - and yes, he did realize just how much he sounded like a school girl in his own head.

“I’m saying you don’t have to treat my feelings like glass. Sure, I’m surprised you  _ love  _ me,” Jensen smiles a bit impishly, much to Mac’s chagrin, “but I can handle getting my heart broken again. Just… don’t steal my used condoms to perform genetic experiments?”

Mac’s rendered speechless, mouth wide open for the next few moments until he recovers. “What the fuck…?”

“Long story.”

“I fucking bet. You’re telling me the story in full, but not until we have a couple of drinks in us first.”

**10/21 - Meaningful kisses**

Not having the energy to drink that night, they fall asleep next to each other on those bloodstained sheets. Mac knows he’ll be completely grossed out in the morning, but he just can’t bring himself to leave Jensen’s side when he’s so sleepy and pliable.

The next morning, Mac wakes Jensen up with a few lovebites along his neck and collarbone before helping him out of bed. Thanks to his augs, Adam looked completely fine - no limp or anything. 

Regardless, Mac can’t help but watch over Adam like a hawk, especially when they get into the shower. He can’t have his prize subordinate slipping and falling in the shower, no matter how much of his body was made out of literal steel.

“This is new.”

Mac pauses in the middle of their shower. “What is?”

“You… shampooing my hair? It’s weird.”

Mac had barely registered the gesture as being out of the ordinary. It was just something he did on reflex, probably out of his desire to take care of Adam. “Wash off, then. I was finished, anyways.”

He feels the awkwardness as he steps out of the shower - he hadn’t forgotten his confession last night, and doesn’t particularly feel like sticking around for when things got out of hand - sentimental, even. Sex, he could handle. But feelings?

He barely offers Adam a second glance as he gets dressed for work, chastising himself internally for staying over when he  _ knew _ how awkward it would be the morning after confessing something as stupid as being in love with Adam. He doesn’t let his distress show, though - he’s cool and composed, straightening his tie before walking towards the front door of Adam’s apartment.

Right as he’s reaching for the doorknob, he feels a hand on his shoulder. When he turns to see what Adam wants, he’s met with a kiss - one he certainly wasn’t expecting.

“Stop worrying over us. I’ll be your boyfriend, if that’s what you want.”

He’s grinning, but not with the mischievous smile Mac is used to seeing when Adam is purposefully being an ass. It looks - soft, unguarded. Like he’s saying “I’ll see you at home tonight” without saying anything at all.

**10/22 - Gun/weapon**

Of course, Adam has to go into work as well. Mac only left earlier so they wouldn’t be seen leaving the same apartment at the same time - Adam has had a sinking feeling that he’s being watched, so precautions to him feel necessary.

When he arrives at TF29, Aria is there to greet him as usual. “Hey, boss. Anything important on your docket today? You should get some target practice downstairs, Mac’s just got down there a few minutes ago.

Adam’s eyebrows fly up. Mac didn’t usually go to the shooting range this early in the morning, instead routinely going down there to take his aggression out on those faceless targets. So something must be bothering him that isn’t related to work.

Worried, Adam tries to keep his small talk with Aria short before hurrying down the steps to the shooting range. He can hear gunshots as soon as he opens the sliding door.

It takes a few minutes to take off his coat and choose his loadout. While his primary objective here is to suss out what Mac is so stressed about, getting a bit of target practice in would certainly not hurt. He also didn’t want Aria or anyone else getting suspicious about their relationship, since they were technically breaking regs.

Mac can’t hear him come in while he’s in the middle of pulling the trigger. That gives Adam the opportunity to sneak up to the booth right next to Mac’s and set up, waiting for Mac to have to reload before taking the chance to tap him on the shoulder and scare the shit out of him.

Adam’s efforts work. Mac jumps almost a foot into the air, flinging his gun across the threshold. “Fuck -  _ Adam! _ ”

  
  


**10/23 - Semi-public sex**

Adam can’t help but laugh softly - but his laugh might as well be full-on guffaws with how little emotion Adam usually showed.

Shaking his head, Mac hopped across the threshold to retrieve his gun, which thankfully hadn’t gone off in the commotion. “I should put a bullet in your chest for that.”

“You could never.” Adam smiles cheekily, waiting for Mac to hop back across to his side of the shooting range before unlocking the safety and wailing on the moving targets with his combat rifle.

Mac takes the time to watch Jensen work, admiring the accuracy and minimal kickback his augmentations afforded. And… he was hard. He wasn’t proud of himself, but he couldn’t blame himself, either - Adam doing what he did best was something that never failed to turn Mac on.

Looking up at the entrance of the underground headquarters to make sure Aria wasn’t looking in, Mac quickly ducks and gets on his knees, fitting his body into the tight space underneath the shooting booth Adam was currently occupying.

“What - Mac, are you serious? Aria could catch us at any minute-”

“That’s the whole point, smartass.” Mac ignores Adam’s protests and gets his cock out of his pants, pleased to see that it’s already at half-mast. “Well, don’t mind me. Get to it, soldier.”

And with that, Mac swallows Adam down, pulling his mouth off as slowly as he can just to give Adam a taste before looking up at the aug. He hadn’t gotten back to shooting, and Mac knelt there, refusing to move until Adam did. “Are you going to let Aria get worried about the lack of gunshots going off down here? I  _ said _ to get to it.”

Jensen swallowed audibly, Adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. He nodded wordlessly and tried to focus on his targets, bringing the gun up to shoulder-level and taking a shot just so Mac will fucking get his mouth back on his cock.

**10/24 - Fears**

Mac is a man of his word, and as soon as he hears the gun go off above him he sucks at the head of Jensen’s dick. He can hear the shots stop, and stops moving as soon as he does - and when Jensen frustratedly resumes his shooting, Mac slides an inch down Jensen’s cock and holds himself there.

He continues that game with the knowledge that Jensen has no chance of ignoring Mac and just going on with his target practice, but the agent is eventually rewarded when Mac takes Adam’s entire cock down his throat. 

Just as he does, though, they hear a familiar voice crackle over the speakers. “Hey, Adam? Where’d Mac go? I didn’t see him leave the shooting range.”

Mac’s eyes widen, his fear somewhat reduced by the knowledge that Aria can’t see him underneath the threshold - but Jensen is panicking. Mac can hear his breathing pick up and his words stutter when he replies, assuring Aria that Mac must be in the locker room getting ready to leave.

Adam’s cock doesn’t seem to be on the same page, though. It bobs in Mac’s mouth with every one of Adam’s heartbeats, anxiety and the fear of getting caught in such a compromising situation only arousing him further.

Mac takes pity on him and continues to suck his cock despite him not taking any shots. They were on the verge of getting caught, after all, so Mac had to make quick work of Jensen’s erection. Taking hold of his ass, Mac encourages Jensen to fuck his face, trying to keep the volume of his choked-off moans down so Aria wouldn’t hear.

**10/25 - Pheromones**

Jensen was well and truly freaking the fuck out. He couldn’t let Aria see them, she was too innocent - the issue was that rather than any fear of her reporting them to Miller. Aria was a good egg, someone who Adam saw as being a kindred soul. So he trusted her. He didn’t, however, trust them to not scar Aria with the sight of Mac absolutely  _ destroying  _ his cock.

With how fast and rough Mac was going, Adam came in no time at all, shuddering helplessly while gripping the counter in front of him with enough force to bend its material. He’s panting as he comes down, cock twitching as he feels the unmistakable sensation of Mac swallowing his cum.

He’s about to hiss at Mac to get him to let him pull out of his mouth when the door to the shooting range slides open, revealing none other than Aria herself.

Thank god for the side blinders on the shooting booths. Otherwise, Aria would have a full view of Mac kneeling in front of Adam’s limp cock.

“Aria!” Jensen laughs nervously, trying not to move so Mac can hurriedly stuff Adam’s cock back into his pants. “Wh...what’s up?”

“What’s… up?” Aria looks puzzled, obviously confused about Adam’s strange choice of words. “I was just worried about you and Mac. I don’t see him here, and I definitely didn’t see him leave - is everything okay?”

Oh god. Oh  _ god.  _ She was walking closer - any moment now, she would see Mac under the counter and they would have no fucking way to explain that to her.

As a last-ditch resort, Adam let his alpha pheromones fly. “Aria, everything’s under control. Trust me and just go back upstairs.”

While she still looked confused, Aria simply nodded and went back to her post. Once she was out of view, Mac got to his feet, wiping his mouth and straightening his suit. “Well, that was fun, wasn’t it?”

“Fun?!” Flustered, Adam stomped out of the shooting range so he could get his coat back on. “We almost traumatized the only other aug agent in TF29.”

“Come off it, Jensen, I knew you could convince her to turn the other way. You’ve used that little trick on me plenty of times, after all.”

**10/26 - Fight**

“What?” Jensen tensed, eyes widening.

“That pheromone trick? I may not be part-robot, but I can tell what’s manipulation when I see it. Gets me chuffed when you use it on Miller, but fuck if I don’t hate it when you try it on me.”

“Mac, I swear - I haven’t done it to you since-”

“Since we started fucking? I hope not.”

Jensen falls silent under Mac’s pointed glare, but the hostile expression only lasts a few seconds before Mac’s back to his usual professional demeanor. “Well. That was fun, wasn’t it? I’ll be in my office if you need me.”

The cold air blowing off of Mac is almost tangible. He doesn’t give Jensen a second glance as he walks out of the shooting range - a far cry from the passionate energy he’d come in with.

“Fuck,” Jensen swears under his breath, knowing he has to fix this one way or another - but not before giving Mac a moment to himself. He knows he’d only make him angrier if he tried to barge into his office now just to absolve himself of something he knows he’s done wrong.

**10/27 - Teamwork**

Trying to give Mac space lasts a few days, then a week. They hadn’t visited each other outside of working hours at all, and Jensen was starting to get worried that Mac’s anger was growing by the day.

Not to say none of this was his fault. He was the one who made Mac upset, after all.

He’s dragging his feet and he knows it. But the more he stalls, the more awkward the prospect of talking with Mac becomes.

Their tiff hadn’t been resolved by the time Miller calls them both into his office for a rare joint mission. Just the two of them.  _ Great. _

“Jensen! Where have you been, you’ve kept poor Mac here waiting for hours.” While Miller was obviously exaggerating, it was true that Adam had stalled as long as he could to avoid having to be in a room (almost) alone with Mac. 

“Sorry, Jim. I was busy with… paperwork.”

“Bullshit,” Mac growls under his breath, making a point not to look Adam’s way. It makes his heart jump when he notices it, followed by a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. As much as he enjoyed the conflict of their first barely-civilized months working together, things were different now. Loath as he was to admit it, Jensen was in love with his CO, despite his inability to admit so out loud.

“Whatever it was, just don’t let it happen again. Now to business - you two are going to infiltrate a biotech conference out in France. Mac, I trust you’ve been brushing up on the language?”

Adam turns to look at Mac, bug-eyed. He had no idea Mac knew any language other than English - but then again, he had been special forces. “Yeah, yeah. What, are we going to be serving champagne to the bourgeoisie?”

“Worse. You’ll be security detail for Versalife’s board members - but make sure to pick up a pocket secretary from one of them with the encryption key for one of their servers held in the Palisade Bank.”

**10/28 - Free day**

“Why both of us?” Jensen blurts out. 

“Christ, you get here late and  _ that’s  _ the first thing you say?” Mac still won’t look at him.

Miller looks at the two of them with an odd expression on his face. Jensen knows he knows something is going on between the two of them, and instead of reassigning them like any sane person would, he probably sees this as a golden opportunity for the two of them to kiss and make up.

“You’re my two best field agents, that’s why.” Jim has that unmistakable glint in his eye that he usually has when he’s fucking with one or both of them. “I trust the two of you won’t let personal matters get in the way of professional obligations?”

Adam scowls, but nonetheless nods agreeably.

“Perfect. Now get out to the helipad, and  _ don’t  _ keep Chikane waiting.”

Adam doesn’t bother waiting for Mac before practically bolting out of TF29. He’d rather they not have to awkwardly tiptoe around each other, especially when they’ll be stuffed in the VTOL’s cramped seating area for god knows how long on the way to France.

When he gets to the helipad, Mac is already there waiting with Chikane. “What took you so long?” Chikane inquires jovially, while Mac wordlessly climbs into the VTOL.

“...Nothing. Let’s get this bird off the ground, Chikane.”

“Will do. Nothing past third base in the backseat, you hear?”

Jensen doesn’t have the heart to tell him there’s no chance of that happening, instead nodding with a shaky grin before getting in after Mac.

When the door closes, it’s just the two of them in the dimly lit carriage.

“Mac-”

“No. Not right now.  _ After  _ the mission,” Mac sighs, looking far less hostile than he had during their meeting with Miller. Adam can’t argue with Mac’s logic - so he leans back in his seat, shades on to hide his longing glances.

**10/29 - Protect/protection**

The mission only takes a few hours from the moment Chikane touches down on the landing pad on the roof of the conference building. With the board members already trusting the two of them, stealing the pocket secretary they were after was easier than stealing candy from a baby.

However, they hadn’t planned for the thing being rigged. The device had a facial recognition add-on jerry-rigged onto it for security, and before they knew it, dozens of Versalife’s hired muscle were descending on their location.

They’d managed to hide at the bottom of a stairwell behind the stairs, hustled together as they planned their next moves.

“I’ll go out there and take out the two goons patrolling the stairwell.” Mac had his pistol in hand, checking the ammunition as he relayed his orders. “You follow right behind and provide cover.”

“You don’t want me going out on my own?”

“No. God knows what you’d get up to if I leave you to your own devices.” The corner of Mac’s lips are ticking up, and Jensen feels a wave of relief wash over him - thank god Mac didn’t hate him.

Mac leads the two of them up the stairs, their destination the helipad so Chikane can come and whisk them out of there. It’s all but smooth sailing until they reach the fifth floor, surrounded by five masked soldiers.

Armed with only a pistol, Mac has to slowly place his gun on the ground and put his hands up - but Adam surprises them by cloaking and hitting four out of the five with TESLA ammo. As the four fell shaking to the ground, Mac swept out his leg to trip the remaining soldier, catching his rifle as it fell out of his hands.

When Adam reappears, Mac claps a hand on his shoulder. “Thanks for the backup. We work well together, don’t we?”

Adam can’t answer, too busy trying to swallow around his heart stuck in his throat.

**10/30 - Hickeys**

Once they’re back in the VTOL, they finally have a chance to catch their breath. Chikane had been on the roof as planned, ever the reliable pilot.

They’re sitting across from each other, knees touching deliberately. “About the pheromone thing…”

“I know, Adam. I might’ve been angry at the start, but you were the one who let this drag on for so long. I thought I’d give you a hard time and make  _ you  _ come to  _ me.” _

“Asshole.” Adam knocks Mac’s knees to the side, looking at him with a heated grin, shades fully retracted.

They leave the helipad back in Prague together, impatient to get back to Adam’s apartment. Adam lets the both of them in, hanging his coat up in the foyer while Mac retreats to the bedroom - and when Adam joins him, Mac is already fully naked.

“Well? I can’t be the only one with my cock out.” Mac crawls up the mattress to hook a finger in Adam’s belt, swiftly undressing him and pinning him onto his back. Mac descends on him, kissing Adam’s neck softly - until Adam feels a sharp pain that swiftly turns into pleasure.

“Jesus, Mac.” Adam shivers as Mac’s hands wander, hand hooking under his ass to lift his leg over Mac’s hip. “Fighting gets you this excited?”

“Only when it’s by your side.” Adam doesn’t have enough time to process what Mac just admitted - he’s sucking another hickey into Adam’s skin while his fingers dip into the cleft of his ass.

Mac fingers him slowly, making sure to look right into Adam’s eyes as he thrusts his fingers in and out. Adam can barely hang on, spine turning to jelly as Mac’s thick fingers massage his prostate in circles.

“Stop fucking around. Get inside me already,” Adam all but begs, grabbing Mac’s cock and pushing it down so that the tip can line up with his entrance.

“As you wish,” Mac hums, pushing his cock inside Adam as soon as his fingers are free. Adam can feel himself clamping down on Mac, making it hard for him to fully sheathe his length - but soon they’re completely connected, Adam short of breath with the intrusion.

“I won’t be gentle with you,” Mac growls, planting his hands on Adam’s hips as his mouth got to work on the hickeys he had left before.

“I hoped you wouldn’t.” Adam grabs Mac’s ass and pulls him closer, suppressing a moan. Mac is  _ big,  _ big enough to make Adam feel every inch of him against his walls.

They’re unable to carry the conversation once Mac gets to thrusting, hands gripping hard enough to leave bruises if Adam’s hips hadn’t been replaced with tungsten all those years ago. It doesn’t take long for the two of them to finish, with how worked up they had gotten. Adam cums first, walls pulsing around Mac’s cock in the aftershocks.

Mac follows suit soon after, finishing inside. He collapses onto Adam, fingers gently brushing against the marks his teeth had left - only for their post-orgasmic glow to be interrupted by Miller calling both of their infolinks.

“Did the two of you forget about the post-mission briefing?!”

“Fuck,” Mac sighed, pinching Adam’s side as he began to laugh. “We’ll be there in a few, Jim.”

**10/31 - Wordless displays of affection**

The two of them had finally made it to Miller’s office after a quick shower. They’d showered separately, knowing they’d never make it if they showered together.

“So. Glad to see the two of you unscathed - but what took you so long after Elias touched down?”

Adam glanced his way, and Mac shook his head, taking over the answer. “I don’t think you want to know, Jim.”

Miller narrowed his eyes, massaging his temples in frustration. “Alright, I - don’t tell me. Just give me the pocket secretary and tell me what happened in France.”

While Mac gave Miller the rundown, he had his hand placed squarely on the small of Jensen’s back, the two of them close enough for Adam’s coat to hide the gesture. Every so often he’d look at his subordinate with a fond smile, especially when telling Miller about how Adam had gotten the two of them out of sticky situations - and Adam wished more than anything that he could kiss Mac right in front of Miller.

For now, though, he was content with the warmth of Mac’s hand, his own reaching behind his back to grasp it in a loving, if awkward, hold.


End file.
